


an' they's beggin' you to stay

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24309634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: After the wedding, the newly-minted Kelly-Jacobs family makes a decision - they’re going to tell their friends what’s really going on.
Relationships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly/Katherine Plumber, implied Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 20
Kudos: 88





	an' they's beggin' you to stay

**Author's Note:**

> This is a follow-up to "soon ya friends are more like family" although it can stand alone, just know that Jack and Katherine are married and consider Davey their husband as well!
> 
> I started this ages ago, relatively speaking, right after I finished SYFAMLF, but then I got distracted. I'm on a quest to close open WIPs though because I have. so many. So here's a little break from the nmau. Hopefully the next royal will be done fairly soon too!

After the wedding, the newly-minted Kelly-Jacobs family makes a decision. They know their friends are pretty open-minded, and a lot of them have been (justifiably) worried about David since Jack and Katherine announced their engagement.

They’re going to tell their friends what’s really going on.

Or, at least, they’re going to stop pretending and see if anyone notices.

They’ve invited a handful of their close friends over – not, after a great deal of back-and-forth arguing, including either of David’s siblings – for a party to celebrate one month of being married. It’s supposed to be fairly low stakes, with no big announcements or anything, but David’s anxiety is getting the best of him. They’re expecting people starting in about half an hour and he’s been pacing the bedroom for the last forty-five minutes.

He keeps checking his watch, watching the minutes tick down until the others are due to arrive.

“Davey, sweetheart, you still doin’ okay?” Jack calls from the other room. He’s cooking something for the party, it smells really good. “We haven’t heard from you in a while.”

“Hmm?” David pauses in sight of the open door, where Jack and Katherine can both see him from the main room. “I’m fine.”

Katherine, who’s trying to make a little bit of sense of their living room, looks up at him. “If you say so. Let us know if you want to actually talk instead of pacing a hole in the bedroom floor.”

David nods, but doesn’t say anything else. Instead, he returns to his circling.

He doesn’t stop until the first knock comes. He has half a mind to migrate into the other bedroom – “his” bedroom – and keep pacing, but as soon as he walks out Katherine grabs him by the hand.

“Darling, we don’t have to tell anyone if it makes you uncomfortable,” she says, standing on tiptoe to whisper it into his ear.

“No, no. I want to, I’m just –“ David sighs, then presses a kiss to her forehead. “Being me, I suppose. Who’s here?”

“Crutchie!” Jack says from the doorway. Thank God – Crutchie is the only person who already knows.

“Heya, Davey,” Crutchie says as he comes in. “Hey, Kath. How’s married life treatin’ ya?”

“I can’t help but wonder a little bit how my husbands survived living here without me,” Katherine answers. She moves away from David to give Crutchie a hug. “In a month, I think I’ve stopped Jack from drinking his paint water fifteen times.”

“That sounds low,” replies Crutchie, grinning.

“ _Hey_ , not fair!” Jack whines from back by the door. “My own flesh and blood, teaming up with my wife against me –“

“We’re not related, Jack,” Crutchie says.

“ _Teaming up against me_ ,” Jack repeats.

“That’s nothing new, love,” says David. He crosses the room to pat Jack on the cheek. “I team up with Katie all the time.”

“And your betrayal stings just as much,” Jack says, but he’s smiling. He pulls David in for a kiss by the tie. “But I know deep down you love me.”

David knows his cheeks are bright red, but he leans in for another kiss. “Not so deep down, I think.”

The door opens behind them and it takes every ounce of control David has not to quickly and violently spring away from his husband. Instead, he clings a little tighter; he knows his grip on Jack’s upper arm must hurt a little, but Jack doesn’t complain or pull away.

“Hey, Jack! Davey!” Race greets, throwing the door open. “Door was unlocked so we figured we could let ourselves in!”

And then he and Albert and Spot Conlon are in their living room, and Race and Spot are both eyeing Jack and David’s current proximity with no small amount of suspicion. Albert, meanwhile, has made a beeline for the kitchen and the snacks Jack had spent the last hour or so working on.

David takes a careful step back from Jack. Race and Spot need an explanation – a real one, and not just a hope that they’ll pick up the clues. They’d both made points of checking in on David before the wedding; they deserve the full truth and not just an implication. Not least because they both look a little bit like they’re ready to throw a punch in Jack’s direction at the slightest hint from David.

“Dave –“ Jack’s got this way of communicating a lot in just a word, and right now he’s saying _are you okay? I can take this if you want._

“Jack,” David replies, eyebrows raised. _Do you really think they’d believe this from you?_

Jack shrugs, waving David on. “Yeah, yeah. Go ahead, love. I’ll be here.”

Race makes a little choked sound at the word _love_ and Spot looks murderous. David grabs them both – Spot by the suspender and Race by a fistful of his shirt – and hauls them into the spare bedroom. They’ve given up, somewhat, on pretending that this room is still used as anything but an office. There’s still a bed, but it’s pushed to the side in favor of the twin desks with their identical typewriters (Davey’s a wedding gift from Katherine) and, currently, most of Jack’s art supplies and a few half-finished paintings, which had been moved into this room from the living room for the party.

“The hell does he think he’s doing?” Spot fumes. “Don’t he know it ain’t polite to go hittin’ on people he ain’t gonna follow through with?”

“Are you alright, Davey?” Race says quietly. He’s bouncing on the balls of his feet, all nervous energy. “Has it been like this since the wedding?”

“Guys,” David says, fighting back a smile. He needs to be serious about this. “It’s alright. I’m fine, he’s fine. He’s not – look, this is kind of the point of this party.”

“What, Jackie-boy makin’ eyes at you in front of his wife?” Spot says.

“Kind of!” replies David. “Calm down, would you? It’s _okay_.”

“Why?” Race cuts in. “If you’s hurtin’, it ain’t okay.”

David takes a deep breath, steeling himself. He knows that these two will be alright with this, he really does, and that means that he should be able to say it out loud, right? He falters for a moment, temporarily letting himself marvel at the fact that somehow, Spot Conlon has become a good enough friend to him that he’s this upset on David’s behalf. No, okay, he has to do this.

“It’s okay because I’m not hurt,” David says. He puts a hand on Race’s shoulder, stilling him. “We haven’t been telling you the whole truth. For a lot of reasons. But we – the three of us, Jack, Kath, and me – decided we ought’a let our friends in on the little secret.”

“Which is?” Spot prompts, his arms crossed tight across his chest.

“We’re together,” David says simply. “Not just Jack and Katherine, all three of us. We have been for a while. We just, ah, couldn’t exactly all get married, y’know?”

“The three of you?” Race echoes. “How come you let us think you were down, then, Dave? We’s been worried sick.”

“It seemed safer, at the time,” says David. “We didn’t feel comfortable letting anybody in yet, and if everyone thought I was heartbroken nobody was going to look any closer.”

Spot fixes David with a suspicious look. “You ain’t that good a liar, Mouth. When we talked at the party you was real choked up, I could tell. What was that about, huh? If you weren’t actually broken up about the engagement, what’d make you need to duck out to collect yourself?”

David suddenly finds he can’t look Spot or Race in the eye, instead fixing on a point between their shoulders on the far wall. “The one thing that’s been hard about all this is – the only thing that’s actually hurt – is that I’m the odd one out. It wouldn’t be difficult for Jack and Katie to change their minds about me and decide it’s too complicated and just –“ He sighs. “It’s not going to happen. But that day, at the party, it hit me really hard how fragile my position with them is, even though it was just in my head.”

Race and Spot turn to each other for a moment, having a silent conversation that seems primarily to be communicated through eyebrows and complicated looking shoulder shrugs.

“Okay,” Race says finally. “We believe you. But if there’s ever any funny business, we’re the first guys you tell, a’right? We may’a known Jack longer, but we got your back.”

“Thanks, Race,” David replies. “Spot. Really, it means a lot.”

“So what,” Spot says, “you three are gonna announce that you been lyin’ to everybody today?”

“We were planning to just stop pretending and see if anybody noticed,” David replies, shrugging. “We’re usually pretty careful about keeping a little distance when we’re around other people.” He laughs. “But _you two_ have both made it known that you’ll soak Jack for lookin’ at me wrong –“

“And we will,” Spot cuts in. “If you need us to.”

“I know,” says David. “But that’s why I figured I should actually tell you what’s going on. So you don’t attack my husband for flirting with me.”

It’s the first time he’s called Jack his husband out loud to anyone but Jack or Katherine. Even Crutchie, who’s been by a few times since the wedding and they’ve never had to pretend around, hasn’t actually heard any of them say the words. Spot and Race are both a little stunned to hear it. David’s a little stunned he said it.

Race opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out and he replaces his cigar.

“You’re serious,” Spot says instead. “You really are.”

“You already said you believed me.”

“Well, yeah, but – it’s another thing to hear a fella call another fella his husband.”

David puts his hands into his pockets. “Tell me truly that the two of _you_ have any kinda problem with it.”

“Nah,” Race says. “S’just a shock. You call Kath your wife, too?”

David nods. “I mean, yeah.”

“You happy?”

“I really am, Race.”

“Okay.” Race punches David’s shoulder playfully. “Look at you! Davey Jacobs, of all people, catchin’ Jack Kelly _and_ the prettiest reporter in New York.”

“Of all people!” David repeats, grinning.

“Yeah, _of all people_ ,” says Spot. “Picture you with one partner, let alone two. Race, check the window – pigs start flyin’ yet?”

David laughs, and this time Race and Spot join him.

“Come on,” he says, gesturing toward the living room, “I think I heard some other people get here, let’s join the party.”

Sure enough, when they get back out to the other room they find that Specs, Elmer, and Romeo have arrived and are helping themselves to snacks and chatting among themselves and with the others who were already there. David gravitates toward Katherine without really thinking about it, slipping an arm around her waist. She leans into him a little, but otherwise doesn’t acknowledge that he’s there, still deep in conversation with Specs.

Specs looks back and forth between the two of them for a moment, but he doesn’t say anything.

That’s about how the evening goes, really. Katherine and Jack are the same as they always are, sweet and obviously, _desperately_ in love, they’re just also doing all those same things with David. Jack’s always been tactile, but there’s something notably different about Jack’s romantic touches – he’s gentler, lingers longer. David can feel the eyes of all the newsies on him.

The party is well and truly in swing, but people are still trickling in. David feels like every time he turns around there’s someone new walking in the door. It’s getting late, or at least it’s starting to, and he’s on the couch talking with Mush about today’s headlines. Jack’s next to him, draped across him and playing idly with his hair while he has his own conversation with Crutchie.

There’s a knock at the door and everyone freezes for a moment, then looks around. It’s going on 9:30 and everyone who was invited is here already, and no one has knocked since Crutchie arrived three hours ago. There’s been an understanding – if you’re expected, just come in.

Katherine stands up from her perch on the table. “I’ve got it.”

The room stays dead silent as she crosses the room to the front door. As soon as she opens it, David’s on his feet in an instant.

“Sarah!” Katherine says, surprised.

“What are you doing here?” David asks, coming up behind Katherine. His hand falls at the small of her back without really thinking about it, and she shifts a little closer to him. He regrets how confrontational he sounds almost immediately and tries to backpedal. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, I – no,” Sarah replies, looking confused. She looks beyond David and Katherine into their crowded living room. “I was hoping to talk to you, David, but I didn’t expect – are you having a party?”

Katherine steps back to let her sister-in-law into the apartment. “Celebrating one month of married life. We were going to invite you, but –“

“I thought you’d be busy,” David jumps in, frowning at Katherine over his sister’s shoulder.

“I’m intruding,” Sarah says, looking slightly confusedly between David and Katherine. “I can come back tomorrow.”

“No!” David says. He pulls away from Katherine, setting his hands on Sarah’s shoulders. “You’re here, and we’re happy to have you. Stay, please.” He smiles, and it’s genuine but he’s a little bit nervous.

“If you’re sure,” Sarah answers finally.

“Of course,” replies David.

After a beat, the party roars back to life. Everyone picks their conversations back up and goes back to their food. David lets his hands slide down Sarah’s arms to hold her hands. “Come on, we can talk in the bedroom.”

Jack stands up to join David, Katherine, and Sarah near the door. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” Sarah replies. “I just wanted a chat with Dave. Enjoy your party, I’ll get him back to you in a minute.”

David nods to his partners, making a sudden decision. “Won’t be long, loves.”

He can see that it catches Sarah’s ear. She doesn’t comment, though, and lets him lead her into the bedroom – the real bedroom, not the spare room. It’s unmistakably occupied by all three of them. It’s clean even though they’d never intended for anyone to see it during the party, thanks to David, but even relatively clean there’s a paint stained shirt hanging over the back of a chair (Jack’s), three mismatched shoes near the closet door (Katherine’s), and a vest sitting on the end of the bed (David’s, who’d changed his mind about what he was wearing at the last moment).

“David –“ Sarah starts, looking around.

“You wanted to talk to me about something,” David interrupts. “We can talk about – I’ll explain after.” He sits down on the edge of the bed, gesturing for her to join him. “You’re here awfully late, Sar.”

Sarah’s eyes narrow, and she bites her lip. She doesn’t sit. “I meant to come earlier in the evening, but I wasn’t feeling terribly well.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, David,” she replies, and she’s smiling. “I’m great, actually. That’s what I’m here to tell you. I’m pregnant.”

“Sarah!” David’s on his feet again, sweeping his sister into a hug. “That’s great!” He kisses her forehead. Sarah and her husband have been trying for a child since they married almost two years ago, with no luck until now. “Wait, why are you here alone? Eli should’ve come with you, you shouldn’t be –“

“He walked me here,” Sarah says. She puts a hand on David’s shoulder, calming him. “But I wanted to talk to you alone, and was hoping to stay the night. Although –“ She glances back toward the closed door. “It seems you might have a fair few houseguests tonight.”

“The spare room is yours,” David replies, waving a hand dismissively. “If any of them want to stay over they’re fighting for the couch.”

“The spare room,” Sarah repeats. David nods numbly. It had just come out, more or less without any thought. “ _Your_ room?”

“My room,” says David.

“The reason I wanted to come here and tell you _today_ ,” Sarah says carefully, “is that I know what today is. And I thought you might need a happy distraction from whatever date night or what have you Jack and Katherine were going to get up to.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m getting the feeling you might not have needed that distraction.”

“No, not so much.”

“Not because of the party?”

“Not because of the party.”

Sarah lets out a low whistle, looking around the room again. “Tell me, little brother. Is this a _take what you can get_ situation, or are you happy?”

“I’m happy, Sarah,” David says honestly. He’s feeling like he can breathe again, which is amazing. He hadn’t realized how tense he was until the tension released. “I’m really, really happy. We’re – it’s not like this happened after the wedding or anything, Sar. This was the _plan_.”

“What do you mean?” Sarah prompts. Her voice is low, curious. “I mean, _David_. You?”

“Why do people keep saying that?” David says, throwing his hands up. He’s being a little dramatic, but it’s working – Sarah is grinning. “I’m going to spare you the details, because it’s personal and you’re my _sister_ , but suffice it to say that I got involved with Jack and Katherine the better part of three years ago.”

“Three _years_?” Sarah shoves David’s shoulder. “Three _years_ you keep this a secret! From me! Your favorite sister!”

“Sarah, you’re my only sister.” David smiles, though. “But yes, of course we kept it a secret. It’s not – there’s so much risk in people knowing. Our friends don’t really even know, and we know they’d never tell a soul outside our circle; tonight is the first time we’ve dropped the pretense of me just being a roommate around other people ever.”

“Well, you can trust me,” says Sarah.

David nods. “I know. Thank you.”

Sarah pulls her brother into a tight hug. “Alright, let’s get back to that party of yours. Apparently I’m three years behind on threatening your significant others.”

David lets out a choked laugh at that, and follows Sarah back out to the party.

\--

The party stretches on well into the night. The handful of boys who aren’t staying the night leave around eleven, but the rest don’t turn in until well after midnight. Crutchie has laid triumphant claim to the couch for his sleeping spot, defending it with his crutch and a firm glare when other people started looking for spots to nod off. (He does, eventually, let Romeo share with him, but only because Romeo is small.) The rest of the boys found spots on the floor and other, slightly less hospitable furniture (like the armchair and the table).

No one really bats an eye at David kissing his sister goodnight at the door to “his” room, or the fact that she’s the one to go inside it. She’s a married woman, after all, and deserves a little comfort and privacy.

They do, however, take notice when David bids the rest of them goodnight shortly after and ducks into the other bedroom – the one to which Katherine and Jack have already retired.

David shuts the door behind him, pointedly ignoring the questioning looks and open mouths on the other side. He leans against the door.

“I think that went well,” Katherine says, sitting cross-legged on the bed.

“I don’t know,” replies Jack, who’s halfway through changing into his pajamas. “I was kinda prepared for how Spot and Racer were gonna be, but Sarah is fucking terrifying.”

David laughs, crossing the room to kiss his husband. “I warned you, Jackie.”

“Not about Sarah!” Jack protests, though he steals another kiss before David pulls away to sit down with Katherine. “We weren’t gonna tell Sarah!”

“And then Sarah showed up and did _not_ think we were crazy,” David reminds him, “so count your blessings.”

Jack winces, nodding. “Understood.”

\--

The thing about Jack Kelly is that no matter where he’s sleeping he manages to take up the entire bed. He’s not in the middle tonight, Kath is, and yet somehow David wakes up very much under Jack’s arm and leg. Katherine must be practically suffocating. David pushes Jack’s limbs off of him, rolling over to check the time.

They don’t work today, but their guests will be waking up soon. They stocked up enough on eggs and bread that David should be able to whip up a pretty nice breakfast for everybody.

Specs, who had spent the night curled on the armchair, is awake when David slips quietly into the living room.

“Mornin’, Davey,” he greets, his voice low so as not to wake anyone else.

“Heya, Specs,” David replies. “Sleep okay?”

“I’ve slept in worse spots,” says Specs. He raises an eyebrow. “Did _you_?”

“Jack is a menace,” David says casually as he moves into the kitchen. “The man takes over the whole bed no matter how we fall asleep. I don’t mind it, though, really. So I guess I’d say I slept alright.”

“So you _were –“_

“Yes,” says David. He takes a breath, steeling himself. “I do prefer the company of my spouses to sleeping alone, you know.” He glances back over his shoulder at Specs’s slightly stunned face. “Do you want to help me start breakfast? Bet the smell of cooking food will wake this crowd up pretty fast.”

“Yeah,” says Specs, standing. “Sure. You know, I had a feeling about you three.”

David nods. “I’m sure you’re not alone.” He starts getting food and pans out. “I’m sorry we never said anything, but – well. I’m sure you know why we didn’t.”

“What changed?” Specs asks, taking the eggs from David so he can start the stove.

David pauses, his head tipping to one side. “I guess it just seemed silly to be afraid of you guys. The rest of the world, yeah. But you guys? We trust you.” He turns his attention back to breakfast. “And it’s nice to have a little corner of the world where we can be honest.”

They don’t say anything more about it, settling full force into making breakfast. Sure enough it doesn’t take long before everyone still asleep is up and about and crowding into the kitchen for their breakfast.

David ends up sharing a seat with Katherine at the table so they can all fit, with Jack actually perched on the table on his other side with his plate on his lap. David has his right arm around Katherine’s waist to keep her from slipping off the chair, eating left-handed. None of the others address it outright like Specs had, but David knows they’ve all noticed.

The closest to acknowledgement is the small nod Romeo gives him, a wide grin on his face.

It’s nice though, to not think twice about holding Katherine like this, or about tipping his cheek up for Jack to kiss after the other man compliments his cooking. There’s a brief moment _after_ he does that when his heart stops, but then he looks up into Jack’s face and sees the open affection there and remembers that they’re safe.

David looks around at his friends, at his sister. At the one little corner of the world where he can be honest.

And for once, it feels like he can breathe.


End file.
